Have always been a little curious about the potential for "Snake Oil" claims with the likes of $ 10K speakers and amps, super kryptonite power cables, $ 1,000 speaker cables and the rest of the high end gizmos in the "Holy Grail" quest for super sound .... I am sure my aging ears ability to hear any improvement would deteriorate more in a couple of months than these improvements could ever make ! ...... but if it rocks ya boat .......
Came across NwAvGuy when recently looking for a new Dac and read some of the articles his blog, very interesting reading indeed.
I decided on a ODAC (great reviews & good price point for me), one of the comments I read that did make sense to me was the potential for noise from the USB power source from the host computer etc.
I found another recent development in conjunction with Yoyodyne (
http://www.yoyodyneconsulting.ca/pages/OEM.html) the consultant who originally collaborated with NwAvGuy in the development of the ODAC, for a DAC that is effectively an ODAC that is powered by a separate power supply and not the USB. This is known as the cDac+
http://www.yoyodyneconsulting.ca/pages/cDAC+.html.
As only marginally dearer than the original ODAC ..... I now have one on its way downunder to join the expanding range of stuff to play with
This stuff is so addictive